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Voyonic Undergoes ISO 9001:2015 Annual Audit

Voyonic Crewing Limited underwent their ISO 9001:2015 annual audit on the 11th of January 2023 courtesy of DNV. The results are very pleasing and to quote the auditor “The organisation continues to have effective Policies, Processes, Procedures and Work Instructions in place to ensure they can deliver their services in line with client requirements”.

The particular focus area this time around was Team Work and again to quote to the auditor “ The organisation has been affected by a number of external factors over the past year e.g. sanctions against Russia, staff fluctuations and ongoing Covid restrictions. However, especially with regards to staff having to work from home and new staff having to be trained, the well-documented QMS has helped to navigate these challenges”.

With one minor non-conformance and a rating of 4 out of 5 on the Degree of Control scale used by DNV, we are very pleased with the outcome.

Voyonic Crewing Limited continue to be a leading International employment and payroll services provider.

Congratulations to Jenny for 5 years service!

Jenny joined Voyonic in December 2015 as a HR & Payroll Administrator and worked closely with our super yacht clients.

Jenny qualified for her CIPP Payroll Technician Qualification in March 2018 and she was promoted to Deputy HR & Payroll Manager in April 2019 due to her ability and the knowledge that she brings to all the team in the HR & Payroll Department. Jenny’s day to day duties involve a variety of tasks and includes providing support to Lorrane.

Neil Carrington, Chief Executive, said “we are grateful for Jenny’s hard work during her time here and look forward to many more years to come.”

Voyonic successfully pass audits

Voyonic are very proud to announce that we have again passed both our MLC annual audit by DNV GL to verify the Company’s compliance to the DNVL-ST-0030 Parts I and II and MLC 2006 – 1.4 and our annual ISO 9001:2015 audit in Quality Management Systems.

At Voyonic we are pleased that all of our employees are involved in ensuring we conform to these standards and that it is a shared responsibility between all of us, ensuring the most effective management of our processes. Through meeting these requirements it reflects the high quality of the services we offer to our clients and our commitment to continual improvement.

Offshore wind hoped to generate every home in the UK by 2030.

 

Boris Johnson pledged yesterday that “Offshore wind farms will generate enough electricity to power every home in the UK within a decade”. It is hoped that the UK will become “the world leader in clean wind energy” by utilising the natural resource that we have in abundance as an island nation.

This is great news for the offshore wind energy sector and for the United Kingdom as it moves us closer towards the goal of decarbonising the UK and looking at a more sustainable future. Just recently we were celebrating World Maritime Day with the theme of Sustainable Shipping for a Sustainable Planet and this news is a great step forward for the industry.

Voyonic are pleased to have experience within this sector as we already employ a number of seafarers with full compliance with HMRC guidance. We help clients generate cost-saving efficiencies by approaching employment both ashore and afloat from a different perspective. We ensure we fully understand the operating situation of all of our clients in order to provide clients with relevant and accurate advice.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information about our services.

enquiries@voyonic.com

+44 (0) 1481 711828

Update on Covid-19

With the coronavirus pandemic continuing globally, we thought we would update you on how it is currently affecting us here in Guernsey.

Currently in Guernsey we are on “lockdown” for a minimum of 14 days. This means that from today all of our staff are working from home. With this in mind, the best way to contact us at the moment is through emailing, rather than calling, the contact you normally speak to or enquiries@voyonic.com. We can then call you back if required.

It is without doubt an unprecedented situation and with advice and instructions from government changing daily by necessity we shall endeavour to maintain services to our clients and assist in any way we can to ease the uncertainty currently facing us all even if that is only to ensure to keep people paid.

We would advise you to only look at official information from government and flag state sources rather than rely on social media and from a seafaring perspective all Flag States have information now available on their websites.

For example you can find further information about how this will affect seafarers here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/seafarer-coronavirus-information

https://www.register-iri.com/covid-19/

https://www.cishipping.com/welcome-maci

Voyonic attend Monaco Yacht Show 2019

The recent Monaco Yacht Show proved a busy one for the Voyonic team, who once again exhibited at the show, at the Yachting Pages terrace.

Taking place in Port Hercules of Monaco, the show provided a stunning opportunity for exhibitors and visitors alike to see displays of state-of-the-art superyachts, industry innovation and discover all this vibrant sector has to offer. This years Monaco Yacht Show was said to be the biggest yet with over 125 superyachts with an average length close to 50 metres (21 vessels exceeded 60 metres this year).

The show gave us an excellent platform from which to catch up with existing clients face-to-face, showcase our services to potential customers, and also meet some of the captains and crew we look after. It was also great to network with other people from the industry as we attended the International Superyacht Society drinks reception on the Wednesday night.

Below are some images from our time there.

 

 

VOYONIC DO A FAIR SWAP WHILST PROVIDING THEIR SUPPORT TO EMPLOYEE BEN DUDDY

Along with a group of 7 friends Ben has created an album on behalf of teenage cancer trust. The group, Methodical Madness, came about as a friend of theirs, Thomas Martin-Sarre sadly passed away from a rare form of childhood cancer 5 years ago and they wanted a way to commemorate him and raise money for the charity.

Donna Reid, group HR director, said “we are pleased to be able to support Ben with a donation for his album as it is a great way to raise money for such a worthwhile cause. We wish him the best of luck with it!”

The album is now available for download on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Spotify as well as in physical CD’s and all proceeds will go to charity.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

Voyonic’s Neil Carrington looks at how Brexit and social security will affect employment in the yachting industry?

Brexit is a matter of great uncertainty and yet it is likely that it will have a huge impact on all of our lives in one way or another. Below we have summarised the recent events of Brexit and look specifically at how it will affect the global employment industry including superyacht crews.

Firstly: when will the UK actually leave the EU? Following numerous meetings between the UK government and EU representatives, Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union was moved from April 2019 to October 2019.

We are still awaiting some indication of what Brexit will mean in terms of social security, particularly following the collapse of Theresa May’s much-maligned Withdrawal Agreement, which would effectively have preserved the status quo for a couple of years.

Currently, EU social security is co-ordinated under EC 883/2004 and related legislation. However, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the common market, including the free movement of labour, will mean this may no longer apply.

In an announcement in April 2019, HMRC stated baldly that if there was no deal, then international workers and/or their employers could have to pay contributions in two states, depending on any agreements those countries had outside the EC 883/2004 framework. HMRC went on to state that the UK government was working on reciprocal agreements with other EU states to ensure cover until at least 31 December 2020.

Prevailing opinion is that existing reciprocal agreements – such as those currently covering the Channel Islands and/or Isle of Man – will be relied upon.  It is notable however that there are no agreements of this kind with many of the EU states, such as Poland.

It is also notable that some of these agreements apply only to nationals of the agreement states – unlike the EU provisions which were based on residence.  A South African national resident in France, for example, would not be covered under the pre-existing France-UK agreement.

With such a diverse workforce in the industry, serving aboard UK and EU flagged vessels, management of social security liabilities is not going to get any easier.

It also seems highly likely that European and British authorities alike will take a greater interest in mobile workers.

We strongly recommend that anyone concerned about their position contact a professional advisor and ensure that their payroll provider really can handle the modern marine employment environment.

Voyonic have highly-qualified individuals on the Board who are well-versed in the tax and regulatory environment from a corporate perspective as well as marine specialist areas such as MLC compliance, Quality Management, seafarer tax and social security.

 

This article was published in the ONBOARD Summer 2019 edition which you can view here. 

 

Welcome back Richard!

We are pleased to welcome back Richard Bartram for his second summer with us as a support administrator. Richard is currently at the University of Bath studying physics and will be going into his fourth and final year there in September. After he has finished university he hopes to spend some time off island experiencing life in London!

We asked Richard why he likes working here and this is what he had to say: “The staff are all really friendly and helpful which makes communicating with everyone much easier. It is nice to feel part of a team where you are valued and also have independence with people relying on you to complete your own tasks.”

It is great to have Richard back here with us and we wish him the best for his future endeavours.

Changing Hats

We would like to say congratulations to Lara, our marketing assistant, for the completion of her degree and graduating from Oxford Brookes University with an Upper Second Class Honours in International Business Management.

Lara joined us at the end of May and will now be changing hats from student to our Marketing Assistant. She will be working on driving the business forward, increasing brand recognition and helping us to have a more proactive and organised approach towards our marketing activities. With previous experience in social media management and a keen interest in the sea and sailing, Lara is looking forward to growing into her role with us.

Make sure to keep an eye out to hear the latest news from Voyonic as we hope that you will be hearing from us a lot more with Lara on board!